Pena National Palace

It is the oldest palace inspired by European Romanticism. It is located in the civil parish of São Pedro de Penaferrim, municipality of Sintra, Portugal. The palace stands on the top of a hill above the town of Sintra, and on a clear day it can be easily seen from Lisbon and much of its metropolitan area. It is a national monument and constitutes one of the major expressions of 19th century Romanticism in the world. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. It is also used for state occasions by the President of the Portuguese Republic and other government officials.

Built in the 19th century for the husband of the young Queen MAria II, Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Palace of Pena stands over the ruins of a Hieronymite monastery founded here in the 15th century on the site of the chapel of Our Lady of Pena.

Ferdinand appointed a German architect, Baron Von Eschwege, to build his summer palace filled with oddities from all over the world and surrounded by a park. With the declaration of the Republic in 1910, the palace become a museum, preserved as it was when the royal family lived here.